Press release

2018 Health Insurance Exchanges Issuer County Map

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services today posted an update to the Health Insurance Exchanges Issuer County Map. This map is of projected issuer participation on the Health Insurance Exchanges in 2018 based on the known issuer public announcements through August 2, 2017. Participation is expected to fluctuate and does not represent actual Exchange application submissions.

This map currently shows that nationwide 19 counties are projected to have no issuers, meaning that Americans in these counties could be without coverage on the Exchanges in 2018. It’s also projected that 1,352 counties - over 40 percent of counties nationwide – could have only one issuer in 2018. This could represent more than 2.3 million Exchange participants that will only have one choice and may not be able to receive the coverage they need. Currently for 2018, at least 13,008 Americans currently enrolled for health coverage on the Exchanges live in the counties projected to be without coverage in 2018.

In addition to overall issuer participation, increasing rates have also been a concern for the Health Insurance Exchanges. On Tuesday, August 1st, CMS posted preliminary rate change requests for the 2018 coverage year, indicating that the trend of rate increases is continuing. A number of insurers in several states requested rate increases of 30 percent or more. Also, consumers in the 39 HealthCare.gov states have already seen their premiums increase more than 100 percent since 2013. All final rate changes for all states will be published no later than November 1, 2017.